$75 Mil Centennial Campaign Underway

By Gracie Hart

Mere hours after the celebration of Founder’s Day, the University launched a public phase of a $75 million Centennial Campaign.
According to Associate Vice President for Business and Finance Richard Pearce, state funding provides $23,378,403—27 percent—of an $85,242,000 budget for this fiscal year.
Originally launched July 1, 2000 with a goal of $40 million, the public phase of the Centennial Campaign was introduced on Friday, March 14 with a new goal of $75 million.
The funds from the campaign will provide the University with enough monetary sources to attract new faculty members and students, upgrade and fund construction, and to maintain other day-to-day operations.
“When we began this campaign in 2000, our goal was $40 million,” said Vice President for Advancement Jeff Rountree, in a news release. “When we surpassed the goal several years ahead of schedule, we decided to keep the momentum going and nearly double our initial target to $75 million. This is ambitious, but totally achievable.”
The campaign raises money for the University through the donation of private gifts. It is then broken down into $35 million for endowments, $25 million for capital projects and campus enhancements and $15 million for the Fund for Mary Washington.
Endowments are very important to universities as the principal amount is never depleted. The interest, however, is used and this allows the endowment to be a source of long-range support. The university’s endowments provide funding for outstanding faculty, scholarships including the Alvey scholarship for a non-Virginia honor student and the Washington scholarship for a Virginia honor student, faculty summer fellowships and other merit or need based scholarships for students.
According to the Annual Report of Gifts of 2004-2005, $4,667,763 was gifted to the University that year, with $815,865 designated as Scholarship Endowment and $42,225 designated as Other Endowment. Reports for more current years were not readily available.
Several completed construction projects have already been funded from the campaign including the Jepson Alumni Executive Center, the University Tennis Center, the Carmen Culpeper Chappell ’59 Centennial Campanile, enhancements to dorms and the acquisition of additional land.
According to a lead gifts report, over $3.9 million has been donated for the Jepson Alumni Executive Center by various donors and $1 million was donated for the University Tennis Center by Josiah P. III and Anne Wilson Rowe ’57.
Several other large donations have been made to the campaign since 2000 including the donation of over $2 million by John F. Chappell in honor of his wife, Carmen. The donation was used to dedicate several rooms in the Jepson Alumni Executive Center, erect the Campanile and provide an endowment for the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series.
“I wanted to do something beautiful in Carmen’s memory, something tangible and intangible that would remind us of her,” Chappell said in a news release. “The Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series has been very successful and is perfect as a memorial for Carmen since she was a passionate reader.”
William Crawley, Jr. and Theresa Crawley have been selected as national co-chairs of the campaign by Associate Vice President for University Advancement Ken Steen who is overseeing the campaign but who was not available at press time. Crawley has been a faculty member of the University for 38 years. He served as Executive Assistant to former president Bill Anderson and is also the university historian. His wife, Theresa, was a member of the class of ‘77, was the National President of the Alumni Association and currently serves as the secretary of the UMW Foundation Board.
“As chairs of the campaign, our duties are to work with the regional chairs and other volunteers to develop and coordinate the campaign,” said Crawley.
“In doing so, we meet also with alumni groups to give them the good news about what UMW is doing today and to inform them of the opportunities that exist for them to help us achieve our institutional goals—and, of course, encourage them to do so.”
The Crawleys have traveled extensively in support of the Centennial Campaign. This month, they will meet with groups at various locations in Virginia and will be traveling to Philadelphia. They also have meetings scheduled in May in New York and this summer in California.
“It makes for a very busy schedule, trying to fit these events in around our regular professional work, but it is very enjoyable to see the enthusiasm that alumni and other friends of the University have for Mary Washington, and we are gratified by their support,” said Crawley.
The University of Mary Washington Centennial Campaign funds will be raised by the University Advancement office and overseen by the University of Mary Washington Foundation. $63.7 million total has been raised for the campaign since 2000.
James Madison University, founded on the same day as Mary Washington, has also launched a campaign. The Madison Century campaign is a $50 million campaign launched in March 2006, and will be completed this year.
Much like the Centennial campaign, the Madison Century Campaign focuses on endowments, improved facilities and annual ongoing support.